Ford adds special local rebates for show

Conflicting claims of world's fastest full-size pickup

In conjunction with the Chicago Auto Show, Ford Motor Co. is offering special rebates on selected vehicles on top of its $1,000 to $4,500 national rebates. The special rebates are redeemable between Friday and Feb. 28.

On Ford vehicles, the local rebate is $500 on the Focus ZX3, the four-door Explorer and light-duty versions of the F-150 pickup, and $1,000 on the Windstar mini-van. Also, auto show visitors can get scratch cards at the Ford exhibit that will give them an additional $200, $500 or $1,000 off.

At Lincoln Mercury, the rebate is $500 on the Lincoln Town Car and Navigator and Mercury Mountaineer. Those who sign up to test-drive a Lincoln Aviator will receive a $500 coupon toward a purchase of the sport-utility vehicle.

Speed record: Within 30 minutes of unveiling the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning and the Dodge Ram SRT-10, Ford and Dodge claimed to have the world's fastest full-size pickup.

John Coletti, head of Ford's Special Vehicle Team operations, boasted that the SVT will accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in five seconds.

Jim Schroer, senior vice president for Chrysler Group, said: "Ours is a production model that comes out this fall; theirs is a concept. We will be on the street this year; they won't."

The SVT Lightning is due out later in the 2004 model year.

The SRT-10 is powered by the same 8.3-liter, 500-horsepower V-10 found in the Dodge Viper, and the SVT F-150 is powered by a 5.4-liter, supercharged V-8 that Ford says will produce more than 500 horsepower.

Schroer said only 2,000 SRT-10's will be produced, and it will be offered to current Viper owners initially so they can have a "bad boy" truck companion to their sports car.

Outside the box: If Oscar Mayer can have a Wienermobile, Kellogg's can have a Tonymobile, a "character vehicle" decorated with Tony the Tiger, Snap, Crackle and Pop and other Kellogg's characters.

To commemorate the new truck, which will appear at a variety of functions between Detroit and Chicago, from parades to the Taste of Chicago, the Kellogg's people are putting photos of show visitors on Frosted Flakes boxes as souvenirs.

To get a personalized box, visitors must bring three Kellogg's box tops or sign a form promising to send Kellogg's three box tops, after which they will receive the cereal box by mail.

The box giveaway will be daily throughout the show, which closes Feb. 23.

Cab fever: Nissan promises that the four-door, crew-cab version of the full-size Titan pickup it will unveil in April will be roomier than the 2004 Ford F-150 SuperCrew.

"The rear-seat room will astound you," said Larry Dominique, chief product specialist for the Titan, which goes on sale late this year.

Nissan unveiled the extended-cab Titan King Cab model in Detroit in January as the first Japanese-brand truck to match domestic pickups in size. The 2004 F-150, also introduced in Detroit, goes on sale in late August.

Nissan will introduce the Titan Crew Cab and a full-size SUV called Pathfinder Armada at the New York Auto Show. The Armada is due for sale in late September, and an Infiniti version will follow in 2004. All three will be built at Nissan's new plant in Canton, Miss.

Toyota showed the 2004 Tundra DoubleCab at McCormick Place. It is a four-door version of its full-size pickup that rivals domestic pickups in interior room. The DoubleCab is basically a Toyota Sequoia SUV with a pickup bed, giving it the same room and comfort as the Sequoia.